World leaders urged to act on global warming study

"PARIS (Reuters) - World governments should take heed of the most wide-ranging scientific assessment so far of a human link to global warming and agree prompt action to slow the trend, the chairman of a U.N. climate report said on Monday."

"The report draws on research by 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries and has taken six years to compile. It is unlikely there will be major changes between the draft and the final conclusions, according to diplomatic sources."

"Thirty-five industrial nations have signed up to the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, capping emissions of carbon dioxide."

"The United States pulled out in 2001, arguing Kyoto would cost jobs and wrongly excluded developing nations from goals for 2012. Still, President Bush said last week that climate change was a "serious challenge"."

"The draft report says there is at least a 90 percent probability that human activities are to blame for most of the warming in the past 50 years. The previous report, in 2001, rated the probability at just 66 percent. "

"The U.N. report, the fourth of its kind, is expected to foresee temperatures rising by 2 to 4.5 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 8.1 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, with a "best estimate" of 3C (5.4F) rise."